Overseas investor can lead to volatility in Asian markets:SEBI

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) Stock market watchdog SEBI today warned of possible volatility in the asian market as the investors from the overseas market may step back if returns fall.

''For greener pastures they (overseas investor) have landed in our backyards because our markets give them good returns. They will abandon our markets if the markets don't give them good returns,'' SEBI Chairman M Damodaran said at a conference here.

This will lead to volatility in the markets, he added.

An analysis of three-month dollar return data available for equity markets across the world shows that Indian bourses have given 400 billion dollars to investors and delivered the highest gain of 33.64 per cent during this period.

The developed markets like the US, Japan, Austria, Sweden and Belgium have given negative returns in this period, while UK gave a marginal return of 0.6 per cent.

To avoid any systemic risks, he said, ''We need to have rules and principle-based regulations'' instead of knee-jerk reactions to the developments in the market.

Declaring 2008 as a year for 'investor's education', Mr Damodaran asked the regulators not to play blindly but to make the first move by anticipating the problem rather than looking for solutions after it has occured.

This century belongs to Asia as evident from the supremacy being enjoyed by the Asian economies, he said while adressing a conference organised by the Asian Securities Analysts Federation (ASAF) Rules to prohibit analysist from trading in securities and an industry code for objective and fair assessment of stocks for analyst are some of the core measures suggested by him to continue the upsurge in the market.